“I do a lot when it comes to sports,” said Kierstin Lindkvist, a sophomore honors broadcast journalism student with a minor in sports communications at West Virginia University. Lindkvist has accomplished a lot in the sports journalism world at WVU in the year and a half she’s been a student. She has been a camera operator for the WVU Athletics Video for a year, started an internship with WVU Digital Media in the Coliseum and is the social media coordinator for the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM).
AWSM is a national association with 21 student chapters that support the advancement of professional women and students in the sports media industry. WVU’s chapter of AWSM focuses on advocacy and networking. So, they have frequent guest speakers who are currently working or previously worked in the sports media industry.
You do not have to be a woman to support women in sports media. AWSM doesn’t mean women don’t want to see men in the field; it is simply to support the women who are currently in the industry. Lindkvist has attempted to convince her male friends to join the organization so they can learn about women in the industry too.
Lindkvist knew her freshman year of high school that she wanted to work in sports. She said, “I love basketball so much…I love it to death.” It was clear that she felt a passion for the sport when she became the manager of her high school’s men’s basketball team and rugby team.
In high school, people said to Lindkvist, “Oh, you’re a girl and you’re managing one of the boy’s teams; that’s kind of weird.” Her response was always strong when she said, “It’s a job that’s available and I like doing it, so what does it matter that I’m surrounded by guys? That’s not relevant.”
“Not every single girl wants to cover sports, and that’s perfectly fine,” Lindkvist said. “I knew going into this that it was going to be very male-dominated.” Now that she’s in college, Lindkvist can see the gender imbalance in the sports journalism industry. Her classes are extremely male-dominated with only a handful of women in them. However, since being at WVU, she hasn’t received any discrimination in her field of study. She said, “I know that not a lot of people can say that.”
Lindkvist hopes to see a change in the gender imbalance within her field. She wants young women to know that “just because you’re working in a male-dominated field doesn’t take away your femininity.” Lindkvist said, “You’re still allowed to be girly and wear dresses and heels on the sidelines and enjoy more traditional feminine things.”
“I would love to have more women in the sports world,” said Lindkvist. “The more representation we see, the more that will follow.” On a day-to-day basis, the gender imbalance doesn’t affect her too much, but when she looks back, Lindkvist sees how many men she is regularly surrounded by. “Yes, this is an industry that is predominantly white and predominantly male, but it doesn’t have to be,” Lindkvist said. “There’s no rule that says, ‘sports are only for white men’.”
Lindkvist’s dream job is to work as a sideline reporter or producer for ESPN or NBC Sports or any other major sports media outlet. Covering the Olympics has always been a goal of hers, but if she had to narrow it down, basketball is her first choice.
While these are all big-city-jobs, Lindkvist said, “You can still be a woman in the sports media industry and you don’t have to work in a major market.” After college, most sports media graduates go to smaller cities or start with high school level sports.
Lindkvist knows that her dream job is unlikely, right after college, so she plans to apply everywhere she can and won’t stop until something sticks. Lindkvist said, “Keep going at it, keep applying and keep learning all you can about the sports world.”
Lindkvist doesn’t want women in sports media school to get discouraged when they hear “no.” She said, “There will be a thousand nos before you hear one yes.” Even though the industry is a tough one to enter, especially as a woman, Lindkvist said, “The more diverse opinions out there, not just in sports, but in news in general, the better.”
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Edited by Sydney Keener